The triple point is where a molecule can be in all three states of matter at the exact same time, all in equilibrium. Imagine having a glass of liquid water happily together with both ice cubes and steam bubbles inside, forever! The ice would never melt, the liquid water would remain the same temperature, and the steam would bubble up. In order to do this, you have to get the pressure and temperature just right, and it’s different for every molecule.


The triple point of mercury happens at -38oF and 0.000000029 psi. For carbon dioxide, it’s 75psi and -70oF. So this isn’t something you can do with a modified bike pump and a refrigerator.


However, the triple point of water is 32oF and 0.089psi. The only place we’ve found this happening naturally (without any lab equipment) is on the surface of Mars.


Because of these numbers, we can get water to boil here on Earth while it stays at room temperature by changing the pressure using everyday materials. (If you have a vacuum pump, you can have the water boil at the freezing point of 32oF.)


Here’s what you need to do:


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5 Responses to “Boiling Room Temperature Water”

  1. Hymavathy Chokanath says:

    thank you. it did help!

  2. I am not sure what the question is, so I’ll take a stab at it. It’s hard for those bubbles to get started since the water is such a clean substance. When you snap the plunger back and forth, you get these tiny little seed bubbles that help the larger bubbles form when the pressure is reduced again. The bubbles can go back into the solution or stay in bubble form, depending on the pressure of the liquid. Hope that helps!

  3. Hymavathy Chokanath says:

    Hi. The video says ( and we can see it too) that when the plunger is pulled back repeatedly, bubbles start to form and these do not go back into the water when the plunger is pulled or withdrawn. The script says that – the air bubbles mix back and disappear.

  4. That’s right! Boiling means to go from a liquid state to a gaseous state, which looks like bubbles forming. You can get room temperature water to boil by changing the pressure. Some materials boil at what we’d call “cold” temperatures. The boiling and freezing points are unique for each substance.

  5. Cynthia Casanova says:

    does the definition for boiling not necassarily mean something will be hot? We looked up boil in our science dictionary and the definition stated, “to change a liquid to a gaseous state by heat or heating to a boiling point. “